Two teenagers were reportedly killed when they tried a social media challenge by “surfing” on top of a moving transit train in San Francisco, California.
The separate incidents were documented in a report by KTVU-TV.
On Sunday morning, at about 9 a.m., a young man tried to ride atop the train out of San Francisco to Millbrae and died when he fell off the Bay Area Rapid Transit train.
Gateway Charter School in San Francisco confirmed the death of a student without identifying the teenager.
“We received the heartbreaking news that one of our students died on Sunday. First and foremost, our condolences go out to the student’s family,” read a statement from interim Executive Director Aaron Watson.
“Whenever there is any loss in a school community, it is, of course, a traumatic event – for the family, classmates, teachers and staff,” he added. “We remain in touch with the family and have taken steps to provide support and resources for our students as we move through this difficult time as a community.”
The victim’s mother, who did not want to be identified, told the San Francisco Standard that she had taken away the teen’s access to his Instagram account where he posted he videos, but it didn’t stop him.
The second incident was reported by Marina Baran, who told the Standard her son Daniel Baran had died after falling while BART surfing and getting hit by the train.
“My son attempted to do it on Jan 29th, he fell and was run by the train,” she wrote on an Instagram post to dissuade others from trying the dangerous challenge. “The funeral was yesterday. Your parents are lucky that you are alive.”
“Your life isn’t worth 15 seconds of video you post on Instagram for clout”
A person who identified himself as a transit worker issued an impassioned plea to young people to stop trying to copy the dangerous challenge.
“Nobody who works in transit wants to deal with anything involved. Nobody wants to have to place a phone call to your significant others or family telling them that your body is in 15 different pieces in the trackway. No train operator deserves to be haunted by the results of some individual’s stupidity, and a sense of guilt that follows,” read the message on Reddit.
“No parent deserves to lose their kid doing something as boneheaded as this,” the worker added. “There’s a reason trains have seats inside. That’s where you’re supposed to be when you’re riding the train. Not on the roof, not on the back coupler, not hanging off the side. Your life isn’t worth 15 seconds of video you post on Instagram for clout. Please, please, please don’t ‘surf’ trains. It’s just not cool.”
Here’s the report from KTVU:
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